Author Bio

As a technical sales representative focused in the printed circuit board industry, Tara works with PCB designers and purchasing organizations to find the best fit solution based on volume, technology and lead-time requirements. While focused on technology, she is passionate about providing a service level to her customers that far exceeds their expectations.

Flex Talk: Additive PCB Technology for Next-generation Electronics

Semi-additive PCB processes help to enable very fine features, with trace and space down to 25 microns and below, significantly reducing space and weight for next-generation electronics. Tara Dunn speaks with Todd Brassard and Meredith LaBeau from Calumet Electronics about how the company is the first domestic PCB manufacturer to license Averatek’s A-SAP™ process and will be presenting information on the industrialization of this process at this year’s IPC APEX EXPO.

Tara Dunn: Thank you for taking the time to talk with me about Calumet Electronics and some of the exciting things you have going on at IPC APEX EXPO this year. Can you provide a little bit of background about Calumet Electronics and your roles there?

Todd Brassard: Thanks, Tara. I serve as the VP and COO at Calumet Electronics.

Meredith LaBeau: And I am the director of process engineering and one of the chief strategic planners.

Brassard: Calumet Electronics has a great story dating back to 1968, preceded by 100 years of copper mining. Our company’s founding mission was to provide jobs to the region as the copper mines closed. This remains a strong component of our mission still, which is to provide careers for good people. Today, Calumet Electronics has grown and evolved to be among the healthiest and strongest PCB manufacturers in the country. Calumet is fiercely focused on strengthening the domestic electronics industry and solving problems for our North American customers.

LaBeau: In 2013, Calumet Electronics restructured to modernize the management team to meet the needs of the technology and job market. Calumet transitioned its focus from the head down to growing technological capabilities side by side with OEMs and other customers. Our technology has significantly evolved over the past six years, positioning Calumet to compete at the highest levels for all customers, but especially the aerospace and defense market. Calumet is also developing technologies that could reset the technology curve and bring semi-additive processing in volume to the United States.

To read this entire column, which appeared in the January 2020 issue of PCB007 Magazine, click here.

2020

Semi-additive PCB processes help to enable very fine features, with trace and space down to 25 microns and below, significantly reducing space and weight for next-generation electronics. Tara Dunn speaks with Todd Brassard and Meredith LaBeau from Calumet Electronics about how the company is the first domestic PCB manufacturer to license Averatek’s A-SAP™ process and will be presenting information on the industrialization of this process at this year’s IPC APEX EXPO.

I recently kicked off a presentation on flex and rigid-flex by asking for a show of hands of those who had never worked with flex materials or considered themselves to be just learning how to design with flex. Over half of the room raised their hands, which excited me because I could help them learn something new. In my opinion, the best way to lessen the challenges and uncertainty of change is to arm yourself with as much knowledge as possible.

2019

I have been involved with additive electronics for the past several years, and I have seen the discussion of and demand for sub-75-micron feature sizes slowly grow. Conversations, questions, and research about SAP and mSAP increased significantly when it was announced that the mSAP process was used to create the circuitry in the more recent versions of our smartphones. While this process is available in very high volume in some areas of the world, it is still in the early stages of development in other areas.

One of the primary advantages of moving to a flexible circuit design from a rigid board is the ability to package the flex in three dimensions, bending or folding into imaginative configurations and saving precious space in the final package.

One of the favorite parts of my job are the days when I meet with a group of engineers and designers to talk about flex and rigid-flex. We might do a "lunch and learn" with a general overview of the technology or address a specific challenge. It is always helpful to bring samples to pass around and show different features. Usually, looking at a sample will spark an idea and the comment, "I wonder if we could do something like this.” From there, the brainstorming begins.

There are so many new processes and materials in the PCB segment that it can be a challenge to keep up with all the new developments. It is fun to start chasing the next new thing, but it is important to keep in mind that even materials and processes that have been around for a while are still new to someone.

Last spring, Ross Olson, an undergraduate student at the University of Minnesota and member of the U of M Solar Vehicle Project team, attended the Geek-a-Palooza event in Minneapolis and displayed one of their race cars. Tara Dunn had the opportunity to get to know Ross, and recently sat down with him to talk about his interest in engineering and his thoughts on the future of the electronics industry.

We live in a connected world. Information is collected at an astonishing rate, and people are working diligently to put this information to good use. It is new, fun, and exciting. But I sometimes wonder what is going to happen to the good, "old-fashioned" networking. Not networked devices, but the act of going out and meeting people in our industry, learning about their story and expertise, and sharing yours—mutually beneficial sharing of information and resources.

The ultimate goal of FlexFactor is to create a generation of students who use their critical thinking, creativity, communication, and collaboration skills to create the materials and devices that will address and mitigate the biggest challenges of the future.

2018

Do you cringe when you think of the option of rigid-flex? It is not an uncommon reaction when talking with designers and engineering managers about using rigid-flex to solve a packaging problem. Why? The most frequent answer is, “They are so expensive.” While it is true that a rigid-flex PCB is typically more expensive on the surface when compared to rigid-board solutions with cables and connectors, a lot is being missed with that mindset.

“The science of today is the technology of tomorrow.” This Edward Teller quote is an apt description of the Mina product. This advanced surface treatment, recently developed to enable low-temperature soldering to aluminum in the RFID market, is not only finding success in that market, but quickly finding a home in other markets, including the LED market, where the incentive is both cost and improved LED performance.

An energetic and engaged crowd filled the recent SMTA Upper Midwest Expo & Tech Forum. The event, held in June 14 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, hosted 57 exhibiting companies and had over 100 pre-registered attendees. The underlying theme for the technical presentations was "Raising the Capability Ceiling!" Here's a wrap-up of the event.

How many hours is your car sitting idle outside in your driveway or a parking lot? What if your car was used for solar harvesting—converting heat to energy? What about biometric sensors in automotives: skin sensors for preventing DUI, posture identification to monitor driver fatigue, monitoring exposure to hazardous materials in a load for truck drivers.

Whether you are new to single- and double-sided flex, moving into rigid-flex construction, thinking of using bookbinder technology, or investigating an additive process, working with new technology can be both exciting and challenging.

Hanging on the wall in my office is this quote from Jeff Bezos: “We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts. It’s our job every day to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little bit better.”

2017

Take just a minute and read through this list of new product ideas. Can you identify the common thread? Yes, they are all enabled by advanced technology, but would you believe that these products were all pitched in the last year by high school students?

“Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.” This famous quote from The Wizard of Oz conjures up the image of Dorothy, the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion and the Scarecrow discovering that the great Wizard of Oz isn’t as grand or as magical as he seems.

“What can I do to help drive cost from my design?” This is a question that I am asked routinely. That question is often followed by, “Can I get these faster?” Both questions are even more predominant when talking about flexible circuits or rigid-flex.

Thinking about the RFID market and the significant growth projected in this market, I decided to do a little research on RFID tag manufacturing. During this research, I learned of a relatively new offering, Mina, an advanced surface treatment technology that addresses the common constraints of large scale manufacturing of aluminum on polyester (Al-PET) circuits.

When walking through trade show expos, I tend to be drawn into product demonstrations on the show floor. Recently, at the IPC APEX EXPO, I stopped in front of a piece of desktop printing equipment that was demonstrating with a flexible circuit.

As increasingly more designs move to flexible materials to take advantage of space, weight or packaging benefits, it has been clear that flexible circuits require a different set of rules than their rigid counterparts. We spend substantial time working through the design to ensure that he flex is as robust as possible.

There are so many final surface finish options to choose from today. How do you decide which is best? HASL—both tin-lead and lead-free—immersion tin, immersion silver, ENIG, OSP, and ENIPIG are the primary finishes used in PCB fabrication.

2016

Summarizing the feedback from both customers and manufacturers, the most successful PCB salespeople are organized, take a genuine interest in their customers’ needs and business challenges, have a better than average understanding of the PCB industry, fully understand the manufacturer’s strengths and capabilities and advocate for both to find the best solution.

I imagine that everyone has been in this position at one time or another: Despite everyone’s best attempt at creating the perfect design, PCB fabrication and assembly, something goes wrong and the troubleshooting begins.

Geek-A-Palooza kicked off the 2016 schedule May 12 in Irvine, California. Historically, Geek-A-Palooza has been held in Minneapolis but is expanding this year to include Orange County and Boston as well.

When analyzing a set of PCBs to improve yields and maximize profits, the first place to start is with a critical review of each PCB design. Are there any attributes that are pushing your manufacturer’s standard design rules? If so, is this necessary to the design or is there another approach that could improve the manufacturer’s yields, reduce cost, and ultimately increase profit?

2015

As an attendee at the IPC Flexible Circuits–HDI Conference held October 28–30, I found myself in a room of people, all eager for technical information, with the opportunity to reconnect with industry friends and to make new connections. The audience was diverse with young people, new to our industry, sitting alongside industry veterans willingly sharing their knowledge and passion for HDI design and flexible circuit technology.

Designing a flex circuit to be prototyped domestically? No problem. Designing a rigid-flex circuit for production offshore? Got it. Designing a part that will be prototyped domestically with a seamless transition to offshore production? That can be a little more challenging.

The transition to a rigid-flex design from the traditional approach of using cable assemblies to join two or more PCBs has obvious benefits—space, weight, packaging, reliability and increased currently carrying capabilities. Yet many times the perception that rigid-flex is a high-cost solution causes designers and engineers to hesitate.

Someone once told me that the potential applications for flexible circuits are really only limited by our imaginations. After pondering that a bit, I had to agree. In fact, one of the things I like best about what I do is that moment during a discussion when I can see the light bulb go off in a designer's head.

The flex-to-fit concept reminds us that creativity and engineering go hand-in-hand. When there is not ample space for a conventional approach, this process, which is the convergence of the mechanical world and the electronics world, results in the ability to design a flexible circuit along the contour of an existing, irregularly shaped structure.